IND vs NZ LIVE: Time up for Rahane? The Kanpur Test was an important one for two players — Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Not because India were playing World Test champions New Zealand, because the two were enduring a lean patch and were desperate in search of runs to keep their place in the India team. But stand-in skipper Rahane failed to capitalise on a good start, scoring 35. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer, who was brought in as a backup for middle-order slammed a half-century on debut. Follow InsideSport.in for more updates
Rahane’s lean patch stretches back to his fine century in the boxing day Test at Melbourne in December 2020. Since then, not only has his averaged dipped, he has looked low on confidence. On Thursday, he started well though. With Kiwi spinners struggling against Indian batters, Rahane hammered six fours. But was undone by Kyle Jamieson’s pace. A loose shot and the delivery took an inside edge to clean up his stumps.
In the absence of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma & KL Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane was looked up as the pillar of the Indian batting lineup along with Cheteshwar Pujara. However, the middle order batter once again failed, leaving India reeling at 154/4 in home conditions.
IND vs NZ Live: Ajinkya Rahane fails litmus test at home, how long will India put up with him?
Since his last century, Ajinkya Rahane has averaged 20.35 in 12 matches with just two half-centuries to show. The last half-century was in England at Lord’s. But that he was off-colour in the entire series was be a huge worry for India.
With the South Africa tour coming up, Ajinkya Rahane will have exactly three innings to sort his problems out. Otherwise, Suryakumar Yadav is already waiting for his opportunity besides Hanuma Vihari after Shreyas Iyer proved his worth.
Ajinkya Rahane vs England in India in 2020-21
- Rahane was off-color during England’s visit to India in 2020-21
- He managed just 112 runs in 4 Test matches at an average of 18.66
Ajinkya Rahane in WTC Final 2021:
- Rahane failed to leave an impression in the WTC Final against New Zealand too. In two innings, he scored 49 & 15 respectively.
Ajinkya Rahane vs England in 2021:
- Rahane’s lean patch continued in India’s last Test series against England in July-September 2021
- In 4 matches, he managed just 109 runs at an average of 15.57
Meanwhile, with Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadava getting call-ups in the Test squad, it has to be seen how long will India put up with Rahane. Putting weight on this, the Indian veteran spinner had earlier warned Rahane to find his form as a lot of young players are waiting on the bench to grab the opportunities.
“There’s no Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma has opted to rest himself. Then there’s Ajinkya Rahane; we were wondering whether he’ll be in the team or not. But he has been handed the captaincy (for the first Test). His last 11 matches haven’t gone too well as he is averaging just 19 (19.58). He is a brilliant cricketer but his performance hasn’t quite backed him. But it’s also good to see the thinking of Rohit, Virat, and Rahul Dravid as they believe that Rahane should be in the team,” Harbhajan had said in a video on Sportskeeda
“Not that he has been given the captaincy, I hope he takes the team forward and also scores runs with the bat so we can see him playing for a little more. If he doesn’t score runs, the queue (of players waiting in the ranks) behind him is very long. There’s Suryakumar Yadav among others waiting in line,” he further added.
IND vs NZ Live: Ajinkya Rahane fails litmus test at home, how long will India put up with him?
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